Friday, December 01, 2017

Review: Inseparable (Port Java #1) by Sloan Johnson

Title ~ Inseparable (Port Java #1)

Author ~ Sloan Johnson

Published ~ 27th November 2017

Genre ~ Contemporary M/M Romance, New Adult

Rating

Synopsis

Trevor and Gabe never knew life without the other. As only children, they grew up as close as brothers, but their love grew to something more. Something they couldn't talk about because their parents wouldn't understand.Gabe is gay and unapologetic about his sexuality. He refuses to live his life in the shadows, but that doesn't mean he isn't harboring secrets.Trevor is his parents’ miracle child and he doesn’t want to hurt them. Coming out, admitting he's in love with Gabe, could ruin everything.Heading off to college was supposed to finally free them to be together, but nothing is as easy as it seems. Can they find a way to navigate this new world, living and loving openly?

Freya’s Review

Gabe and Terry grew up closer than brothers. One was never without the other. Before they left high school, their friendship morphed into something more. But, they waited until college to explore the more intimate side and be together as a couple. The problem was – how to tell the parents?

Trevor is nerdy, sensitive, and quiet. He’s a planner and tends to overthink things. Gabriel is a jock, impulsive and pretty loud. When they go to college, they even out a little in that Trevor goes out more. Gabe tends to stay home and thinks more. The boys also discover that college makes their lives more segmented than expected.

This story does not explore the dramatic side of college. Instead, it focusses on the hopes and doubts that accompany their developing relationship within the backdrop of academia. There’s lots of internal thinking and speculation. Always with the undertone of, how to tell the parents, who are the fussing kind with plans for their children.

The story is told in the first person with alternating chapters from Gabe and Terry’s POV. As far as technicals go, the hardest part for me to get to grips with was the formatting. Dialogue is mixed in with the paragraphs, which meant I didn’t always see the speech marks. This also made for some long passages, making reading occasionally tricky, especially if I got distracted. Mix that with the line spacing, and each page looked like wall to wall words.

I’d have liked to have lived more of the scenes with the boys, rather than be told. As it was, I felt several levels removed from any action, separating me from the characters. Feelings and thoughts are detailed, and much of the intimacy is fade out with headlines being told after the event.

I found Inseparable to be a, gently, gently, sweetly does it, story, containing a series of thoughtful encounters and learning experiences. Where there is anger, there is quick remorse and compromise. This is a mild story of two boys in love finding their way to acceptance of themselves and their situation.